1. Technical Field
The present technology pertains generally to devices and methods of sealing an enclosure, and more particularly to a remote sealing process that uses aerosolized sealant particles to simultaneously measure, find, and seal leaks in an enclosure (e.g. building envelope shell) in a cost effective manner.
2. Background
The building shell or envelope is the boundary between the conditioned interior of a building and the outdoors. Building shells are often very leaky, causing unintended flows of air between conditioned and unconditioned spaces that result in additional loads for the heating and air conditioning equipment to address, or in the case of larger buildings, causing leakage between zones whose pressure or flow is desired to be controlled (e.g. maintaining negative or positive pressure in hospital or laboratory rooms, or maintaining positive pressurization of commercial buildings in general, or reducing sound or air transport between apartments). The leakage of air into and out of a single-family home can account for 30% or more of the heating and cooling costs of the home. It has been estimated that houses built in the 1990's can have as much as 180 square inches of leakage area for a 1500 square foot home. A tight building envelope can also reduce the infiltration of outdoor pollutants, dust, allergens moisture and noise into the home. Proper sealing of the building envelope can therefore improve energy efficiency as well as maintain a more consistent level of comfort in the home or other building.
A significant effort has been made to reduce the leaks in building shells through current construction practices, but the problem remains one of excess labor costs, constant vigilance, and quality control issues. It is currently very difficult to locate and seal leaks within an enclosure. Existing technologies require manual location and sealing of the leaks. Gaps in seams and joints between walls, ceilings and windows or other structures may not be readily apparent. Gaps between walls or ceilings and electrical boxes, switch boxes and ceiling fixtures and other openings may be covered with a surface plate but still leak air and heat.
Various methods (e.g. smoke and sound) have been tried in the past for locating air leakage paths but it is still very difficult to cost-effectively identify the location of leaks within an enclosure. In multifamily buildings, using guarded fan-pressurization techniques can only determine the bulk leakage through a wall. Infrared thermography has also been used to identify leaks for manual repair in order to maintain air barrier continuity.
Smoke dispensers are routinely used to assist in the visual identification of air leaks by the observation of the movement of the smoke into or out of a seam or gap indicating a leak. Leaks that have been identified are then manually sealed with some material such as caulk, foam or other type of barrier. However, this approach to the identification of air leaks in structures may result in difficulty identifying small fissures or gaps in seams or joints where the flow of air is too slow to visibly influence the smoke, and remains time and labor intensive.
There are various other enclosures that have similar problems with locating and sealing small leaks. Some examples of these include airplane fuselages, building air handlers, heat exchangers, etc.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for identifying and automatically sealing air leaks in seams and joints, ceiling and wall perforations to improve the air barrier of homes, larger buildings, or other enclosures. The present technology satisfies this need as well as others and is generally an improvement in the art.